Workers raze San Anselmo building to make way for park on land donated by George Lucas

Workers are razing a downtown San Anselmo building to make way for a park featuring statues of two characters created by filmmaker George Lucas, and a 21st-century fundraising campaign is in the works to help pay for the project.

Lucas is donating the land for what will be an 8,700-square-foot park, along with bronze statues of Indiana Jones and Yoda. The filmmaker, who sold most of his entertainment holdings to the Walt Disney Co. for $4 billion last year, is also paying to remove the 6,500-square-foot building adjacent to Town Hall. Lucas also has contributed an undisclosed amount of cash to the project.

San Anselmo Town Manager Debra Stutsman said demolition of the building began more than a week ago, preceded by removal of asbestos from the building. She said the asbestos was in some of the building's floor tiles, plaster and ductwork.

Stutsman said construction workers have had to proceed with caution because the building contains more brick than expected. She said it may take another two weeks to finish demolition. San Anselmo has an ordinance that requires that 70 percent of building materials be recycled.

The San Anselmo Community Foundation, a nonprofit organization that San Anselmo Chamber of Commerce President Connie Rodgers established in 2000 to promote the interests of the local business community, will raise the money to pay for and maintain the park.

Robert Hunter, a San Anselmo investment adviser who is serving on the chamber's fundraising committee for the park, estimates it will cost about $100,000 to $150,000 to create the park, and additional money will be needed for maintenance.

The park will contain three "meandering" paths that will lead to a circular fountain at the west end of the parcel, and benches will be placed adjacent to the paths. The fountain, which will contain the two bronze statues, will be about 15 feet in diameter.

Hunter said the chamber will use "crowdfunding" to raise the needed money in $50,000 increments. Crowdfunding is a fundraising technique that makes use of the Internet to garner contributions.

Hunter said there are two basic approaches to crowdfunding: donation-based, in which people contribute without expecting to get anything in return; and rewards-based, in which people receive a token gift, such as a T-shirt, for their contribution.

"The two principal websites for reward-based crowdfunding have been Indiegogo and Kickstarter," Hunter said. "We chose Indiegogo because they were really enthusiastic about doing what amounts to a civic project."

Indiegogo posts information about projects seeking contributions on its website. This may include pictures, videos or biographies of the principals. The website is still in the works.

"We intend to have some interviews with kids and others in San Anselmo talking about why they're excited about the park," Hunter said.

He said the chamber also will use social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram and Foursquare to link people to the Indiegogo site.

Rodgers said, "We knew we wanted to open it to crowdfunding because it allows a large participation. Indiegogo has international reach."

She said the project is still on schedule for completion prior to the San Anselmo Art & Wine Festival at the end of June. But the chamber has not yet come up with a name for the park. One thing is certain, however. The park won't be named after the man who made it possible: George Lucas.